Spain reaches semifinals with 1-0 win over Paraguay

Spain's long drought is over.

The European champions, who have mostly known frustration in international soccer over the last half-century, beat Paraguay 1-0 Saturday to advance to the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1950.

The game's only goal wasn't a thing of beauty, but it got the job done, with David Villa ricocheting in a rebound off the right post. Villa had the ball only because a shot from second-half substitute Pedro had bounced off the left post
Whether or not all will prove to be a good thing is open to debate since Spain now finds powerful Germany waiting for them in the semifinals. Germany dismantled Argentina 4-0 in its quarterfinal Saturday and has won its two elimination-round matches by a combined 8-1.

But Spain will deal with that later. For the time being they'll focus on their own victory, one that eliminated a gutty Paraguayan team that scored few goals at this tournament but gave up even fewer.

And the win didn't come without some drama, including a pair of penalty kicks -- one for each team -- just a minute apart early in the second half.

Yet neither one resulted in a goal.

The first came after Spain's Gerard Pique grabbed the arm of Paraguay's Oscar Cardozo with both hands, pulling him to the ground in the penalty area. Cardozo took the kick, but after a long pause to gather himself, he was foiled when Spanish keeper Iker Casillas guessed correctly, diving to his left and right into the path of Cardozo's shot.


LA TIMES